Child safety seat

ABSTRACT

A child safety seat includes a base, a seat body, a dampening member, and a non-planar impactor. The seat body is slidably secured to the base and is movable between a pre-collision position and a post-collision position. The dampening member is positioned between the base and the seat body. The non-planar impactor is secured to the seat body and is positioned to engage the dampening member. The non-planar impactor and the dampening member together provide a progressive dampening force against movement of the seat body from the pre-collision position to the post-collision position.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/584,732 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,226,162), entitled Child SafetySeat, filed Sep. 11, 2009.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This patent application relates to child safety seats for use inautomobiles. More particularly, this patent application relates to sucha child safety seat having improved safety features, a convenientlyreleasable latch mechanism, and/or a conveniently adjustable head restand shoulder harness arrangement.

BACKGROUND ART

Child safety seats for use in automobiles have been designed to includea variety of features. Many of these features relate to either improvedsafety of the seat or increased convenience and ease of use of the childsafety seat. Specifically, one area of focus within the relevant marketis the ability to adjust the restraint system of the safety seat for agrowing child. Still, despite the significant efforts made in advancingchild safety seat technology, many such seats remain difficult toinstall and adjust, and offer little advancement in the area of improvedsafety.

Many child safety seats offer the ability to adjust the height ofshoulder belts of the harness system as a child grows taller. The mostcommon method of allowing for adjustment of the shoulder belts is toprovide a plurality of vertically spaced pairs of slots in the seatback. When desired, the shoulder belts are drawn back through the slotsto the back of the safety seat and then inserted through a higher pairof slots. While this method of adjusting the shoulder belts isultimately effective, it is also time consuming and awkward because itrequires removing the safety seat from a vehicle, often meaning removinga child from the safety seat, adjusting the shoulder belts, and thenreinstalling the safety seat in the vehicle. Other mechanisms have beendeveloped in an attempt to make adjustment of the shoulder restraintssimpler and less time consuming. However, these attempts still requireaccess to the rear of the safety seat in order to permit adjustment ofthe shoulder restraint belts, thus still requiring removal of the seatfrom the vehicle.

Another design element of child safety seats that has been the focus ofmuch attempted innovation is the mechanism by which the seat is securedwithin a vehicle. The conventional safety seat utilizes the vehicle'ssafety belt to secure it within the vehicle, often requiring the safetybelt to be threaded through an opening in the seat. More recently, duein part to government regulations, the LATCH system as it is known inthe United States also referred to as ISOFIX in Europe, LUAS or CANFIXin Canada, and UCSSS) has become more prominent. These systems includetwo lower anchor attachments and may include a top tether attachment,and are adapted to be attached to hooks provided in newer vehicles. Thelower anchor attachments of the LATCH system may be provided in the formof a flexible belt with hook ends, or rigid attachments extending fromthe safety seat. In the case of a seat having rigid attachments, whileinstallation of the seat is made more convenient, removal of the seatcan be somewhat difficult due to the hard-to-reach location of therelease mechanism for the rigid latch members.

One area that has received surprisingly little research and developmentwithin the safety seat industry is force dampening mechanisms, or energyabsorbing systems, incorporated into the seats to reduce the forces feltby a child during an accident. Many advances have been made in the fieldof air-bags and other similar devices that reduce the forces felt by anadult in a car accident, but similar developments have not been seen inthe field of child safety seats. One known mechanism for absorbingforces acting on a child safety seat during a crash, as disclosed inU.S. Pat. No. 5,664,830, involves providing a base and a seat body, thebase and seat body being slidingly connected by a track system. The seatbody is anchored and secured in place relative to the base by a shearpin, and a honey-comb core cylinder is positioned between the seat bodyand the base in the path of movement. When a load threshold has beensurpassed during a collision, the shear pin is overcome and the seatbody pivots on the track system relative to the base, thereby crushingthe cylinder to absorb the forces of the crash. This system, however,does not take into account the varying size and weight of childrenoccupying a child safety seat. A single resistance is provided by theenergy absorbing cylinder, which often results in ineffective forcedampening due to either insufficient energy absorption for a largerchild or too much resistance for a smaller child.

SUMMARY

In general, a child safety seat includes a base, and a seat bodyslidably secured to the base and movable between a pre-collisionposition and a post-collision position. A dampening member is positionedbetween the base and the seat body, and a non-planar impactor is securedto the seat body and is positioned to engage the dampening member. Thenon-planar impactor and the dampening member provide a progressivedampening force against movement of the seat body from the pre-collisionposition to the post-collision position.

In accordance with one implementation, the child safety seat includes asupport plate that is secured to the base, and an impactor that issecured to the seat body. A dampening member is positioned between thesupport plate and the impactor and includes a plurality of columns ofvarying lengths that provide a progressively increasing resistance tomovement of the seat body from the pre-collision position to thepost-collision position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A preferred exemplary child safety seat is shown by way of example inthe accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a child safety seat.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the child safety seat of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the child safety seat of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the headrest portion of the child safety seatof FIG. 3.

FIG. 5A is a section view taken generally along line 5-5 of FIG. 4showing the headrest and shoulder belt adjustment mechanism in a lockedposition.

FIG. 5B is a section view similar to FIG. 5A showing the headrest andshoulder belt adjustment mechanism in a released position.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the headrest and shoulder belt portionof the child safety seat.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the child safety seat with the exterior basecover removed.

FIG. 8 is a side view of the child safety seat as shown in FIG. 7, withthe seat body in a forward, post-collision position.

FIG. 9 is a rear perspective view of the child safety seat showing theimpactor and energy absorbing columns of the energy absorption system.

FIG. 10 is a side cut-away view of the child safety seat showing theimpact and energy absorbing columns of the energy absorption system.

FIG. 11 is a rear perspective view of the child safety seat, as shown inFIG. 9, with the seat body in a forward, post-collision position and theenergy absorbing columns in a crushed state.

FIG. 12 is a side cut-away view of the child safety seat, as shown inFIG. 10, with the seat body in a forward, post-collision position andthe energy absorbing columns in a crushed state.

FIG. 13 is a front perspective view of the child safety seat showing theharness anchoring point.

FIG. 14 is a schematic representation of an alternate energy absorbingconfiguration with energy absorbing columns of varying length.

FIG. 15 is a rear perspective view of the child safety seat and thelatch members.

FIG. 16 is a top plan view of the base of the child safety seat.

FIG. 17A is a sectional view taken substantially along line 17-17 ofFIG. 16 showing the latch release mechanism in an unactuated position.

FIG. 17B is a sectional view similar to FIG. 17A with the latch releasemechanism in an actuated position.

FIG. 18 is perspective view of the latch release member of the latchrelease mechanism,

FIG. 19 is a perspective view of the actuator member of the latchrelease mechanism.

FIG. 20 is a perspective view of the ramp member of the latch releasemechanism.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A child safety seat is indicated generally by the numeral 10. Childsafety seat 10 includes a base 12 and a seat body 14 secured to thebase. Base 12 includes a generally planar bottom 16 adapted to rest onthe seat of a vehicle, opposing sidewalls 18, a front surface 20, andrigid latch members 21. Seat body 14 includes a seating surface 22defined by a seat bottom 24 and a seat back 26, opposing seat sidewalls28 and a headrest 30. Child safety seat 10 is adapted to be secured in avehicle, and is configured to restrain a child therein. A harness system32 is provided to safely secure the child within child safety seat 10,and includes shoulder belts 34 and lap belts 36. A vehicle belt securingsystem may also be provided to secure the child safety seat in a vehiclenot equipped with LATCH hooks. The vehicle belt securing system may beany such system known to those skilled in the art. Molded plastic shellpieces are provided on the exterior of child safety seat 10 to improvethe aesthetic appearance of the seat, and to hide and protect theworking components of the seat. The outer shell may be modified oradapted without deviating from the scope of the invention. The novelaspects of the child safety seat will be described in greater detailbelow.

Headrest and Shoulder Strap Adjustment Assembly

Child safety seats, such as the one described herein, are preferablyadjustable to accommodate children of varying sizes, and to adjust forthe growth of each child. Therefore, the height of headrest 30 relativeto seat bottom 24, and the height at which shoulder belts 34 extend fromseat back 26, are selectively adjustable as a single unit, therebyincreasing the ease and efficiency of adjustment. The headrest 30 andthe headrest and shoulder belt adjustment mechanism is referred tohereinafter as a headrest assembly, and is indicated generally by thenumeral 40.

Headrest assembly 40 is shown in detail in FIGS. 3-6. Headrest 30 issecured to a backplate 42 that is secured to and slidable relative tothe seat back 26 of seat body 14. Laterally spaced vertical tracks 44are provided within and secured to seat back 26 adjacent to the lateraledges of backplate 42. Vertical tracks 44 include notches 45 therein,the notches being spaced vertically along the track to define aplurality of height adjustment positions for headrest assembly 40. Arelease member 46 is pivotally secured to backplate 42 and is adapted topivot from a locked position (FIG. 5A) to an adjustment position (FIG.5B) to allow for vertical movement of headrest assembly 40.

Release member 46 includes laterally spaced release buttons 48 and 50extending through laterally spaced, vertically oriented slots 52 and 54,respectively, in seat back 26. Release buttons 48, 50 are connected by abody portion 56 of release member 46 so that they pivot in unison. Thus,pressing either of the release buttons 48, 50 will result in thepivoting of release member 46 to an adjustment position. A locking rod58 is carried by release member 46 and is positioned generallyhorizontally, extending between and laterally beyond release buttons 48and 50. Locking rod 58 may be secured to release member 46 in any mannerknown to those skilled in the art. In one embodiment, locking rod 58 isa metal rod.

When release member 46 is in a locked position, as shown in FIG. 5A,locking rod 58 is received in one of notches 45 in each track 44,thereby securing headrest assembly 40 in place. Release member 46 isbiased in a forward direction to remain in notches 45 one or moresprings (not shown). When headrest assembly 40 is to be movedvertically, either up or down, one of release buttons 48, 50 isdepressed toward backplate 42, thereby overcoming the biasing force, andmoving locking rod 58 out of engagement with notches 45. Release member46 is then in an adjustment position, as shown in FIG. 5B, and headrestassembly is free to move vertically along tracks 44 relative to seatback 26. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, whenpressure is removed from a release button 48 or 50, the biasing forcewill return release member 46 to a locked position. Locking rod 58 willtherefore be forced into the next notch 45 that it is aligned with, andheadrest assembly will again be secured against vertical movementrelative to seat back 26.

Locking rod 58 also acts as support for shoulder belts 34 of harnesssystem 32 (FIG. 6). Shoulder belts 34 are routed within seat back 26 andextend outwardly from slots 52 and 54 in seat back 26 immediatelybeneath release buttons 48 and 50. Shoulder belts 34 are routed behindand over locking rod 58 before exiting through slots 52 and 54. Releasemember 46 is sized and shaped so as to allow shoulder belts 34 to berouted over locking rod 58, such as by providing recesses adjacent tolocking rod 58. Sufficient clearance is provided for shoulder belts 34so that the length of the shoulder belts and the height of headrestassembly 40 may be both be adjusted without being impeded by significantfrictional forces. Thus, the height at which shoulder belts 34 extendthrough slots 52 and 54 is controlled by the position of locking rod 58as a result of routing shoulder belts 34 over locking rod 58. Asheadrest assembly 40, and consequently locking rod 58, is movedvertically upward, the height at which the shoulder belts 34 arepositioned is adjusted vertically by an equal distance.

The adjustment mechanism of headrest assembly 40 and shoulder belts 34makes adjusting the height of the headrest and shoulder belts moreconvenient. Most significantly, child safety seat 10 does not need to beremoved from the vehicle in order to adjust the headrest assembly 40,and a child secured within the child safety seat can remain thereinduring adjustment. In addition, by providing two release buttons 48, 50,one release button is assured of being easily accessible regardless ofwhether the child safety seat 10 is installed on the driver side or thepassenger side of a vehicle. Furthermore, because shoulder belts 34extend from seat back 26 immediately below release buttons 48 and 50, asimple indicator is provided for when adjustment is needed. If releasebuttons 48 and 50 are no longer visible when a child is secured in childsafety seat 10, then vertical adjustment of headrest assembly 40 isneeded.

Energy Absorbing System

Referring now to FIGS. 7-14, child safety seat 10 includes an energyabsorbing system, generally indicated by the numeral 70. Energyabsorbing system 70 (also referred to as energy system 70) allows seatbody 14 to slide relative to base 12 upon the introduction of forceexceeding a predetermined threshold, the force typically caused by avehicle collision. The movement of seat body 14 is slowed and dampenedby a force absorbing mechanism so as to reduce the forces felt by achild restrained within the child safety seat 10.

Energy system 70 includes a front arcuate slot 72 and a back arcuateslot 74 in each sidewall 18, the slots 72, 74 defining an arcuate pathof movement for seat body 14. Although only a single sidewall 18 isshown in the drawings, it will be appreciated by those skilled in theart that the opposing sidewalls 18 are substantially identical instructure and function. Slots 72, 74 have a common radius, and aresubstantially identical in configuration. Front slot 72 is positionedadjacent the front surface 20 of base 12, and back slot 74 is positionedsubstantially below seat back 26.

A front cross-bar 76 is received in slot 72 in each sidewall 18, andextends therebetween. A back cross-bar 78 is received slot 74 in eachsidewall, and extends therebetween. Each cross-bar 76, 78 has anenlarged end to maintain it in the proper position within slots 72, 74.The enlarged end may be provided in the form of a fastener threaded intoa bore in the cross-bar The cross-bar may take any desired shape and maybe, for example, a cylindrical cross-bar. Each cross-bar passes throughor is otherwise secured to the frame (not shown) of seat body 14 so thatarcuate movement of cross-bars 76, 78 within slots 72, 74 results inidentical arcuate movement of seat body 14. While a particularstructural configuration for allowing arcuate movement of seat body 14relative to base 12 is shown in the drawings and described herein, itshould be appreciated that any known system may be employed. Forexample, seat body may be provided with an outwardly extending arcuateflange that is received in an arcuate recess in sidewall 18 of base 12.

A shear pin 80 is provided in each sidewall 18 to secure seat body 14 tobase 12 and prevent movement along slots 72, 74 (referred to aspre-collision position) unless a force threshold is exceeded. If therequisite force threshold is exceeded, shear pin gives way and seat body14 is allowed to slide along slots 72, 74. Shear pin 80 extends throughsidewall 18 and into seat body 14. Shear pins are well known and areavailable in a variety of forms, materials and sizes, and it will beappreciated by those skilled in the art that the specifications of theshear pin will determine what force threshold must be exceeded beforeseat body 14 moves relative to base 12. A shear pin 80 having a largediameter and made of a strong material will have a higher forcethreshold than a shear pin 80 having a relatively small diameter andmade of a weaker material, in one or more embodiments, the shear pin maybe made of a thermoplastic material, including, for example,polyethylene. In these or other embodiments, the shear pin may have adiameter of between approximately 0.10 and 1.0 inches. FIG. 7 shows seatbody 14 in the pre-collision position where it is secured by shear pin80 relative to base 12. FIG. 8 depicts seat body 14 in a post-collisionposition where it has overcome the resistance of shear pin 80 and movedalong slots 72, 74 to dissipate forces acting upon child safety seat 10.

At least one dampening member is provided within base 12 and ispositioned between base 12 and seat body 14 to absorb forces acting uponchild safety seat 10. This dampening member may be a plurality ofhoney-comb core energy absorption columns 82 (FIGS. 9-13), also referredto as crush columns 82. Crush columns 82 are positioned and configuredso that, when seat body 14 slides along slots 72, 74, they are crushedby the force exerted by seat body 14, thereby absorbing and dissipatingenergy before it can impact a child restrained within child safety seat10. It is also contemplated that alternative force damping members maybe employed to resist movement of seat body 14 along slots 72 and 74.Such force dampening members need only be able to absorb and dissipateenergy generated by a collision while allowing some restrained movementof seat body 14 relative to base 12. Suitable alternative forcedampening members will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

A support plate 84 is attached to base 12 and supports crush columns 82.One end of crush columns 82 rests against and is supported by supportplate 84. An impactor 86 is secured to seat body 14 and is positioned onan opposite longitudinal end of crush columns 82. Thus, movement of seatbody 14 causes movement of impactor 86 relative to support plate 84,thereby crushing columns 82 therebetween. Impactor 86 may be secured toback cross-bar 78, which is secured to the frame of seat body 14. In theembodiment shown in FIGS. 9-14, support plate 84 is generally planaradjacent to crush columns 82, whereas impactor 86 has a generallycylindrical shape.

The particular shape of impactor 86 is not critical. However, it ispreferred that impactor 86 is not planar along the surface that contactscrush columns 82 so that the resistance provided by crush-columns 82 isprogressive in nature. A non-planar impactor, such as the cylindricalimpactor 86 shown in FIGS. 9-13, will encounter progressively greaterresistance as it crushes crush-columns 82 due to a progressivelyincreasing area of contact between column 82 and impactor 86, as will beappreciated by those skilled in the art. Once the impactor is fullyengaged with the crush column, the resistance offered by the column willbecome constant. The progressive dampening provided by a non-planarimpactor improves the ability to effectively dampen forces generated bychildren of widely varying sizes restrained within the child safety seat10.

FIGS. 9 and 10 depict child safety seat 10 in the pre-collision positionwhere seat body 14 is secured to base 12 by shear pin 80, therebypreventing movement relative thereto. In the pre-collision position,crush columns 82 are positioned between support plate 84 and impactor 86in a fully extended, non-compressed state. Crush columns 82 are incontact at one end with support plate 84, and may be in contact at theother end with impactor 86. It is also contemplated that a small gap mayexist between impactor 86 and crush columns 82 in the pre-collisionposition. FIGS. 11 and 12 show child safety seat 10 in thepost-collision position where seat body 14 has moved along slots 72 and74 relative to base 12. Crush columns 82 have been compressed byimpactor 86 during the movement of seat body 14, thereby absorbing theforces of an impact and reducing the forces acting upon a childrestrained within the seat.

When child safety seat 10 is subjected to the forces of a collision, achild therein tends to be forced forward against the shoulder belts 34of harness system 32. This forward force against shoulder belts 34 is ina direction opposite to the force dampening movement of seat body 14along slots 72, 74, thereby reducing the effectiveness of energy system70. To overcome this opposing force, harness system 32 is anchored to aharness adjustment member 87 that is secured to an anchor plate 88 onbase 12, as shown in FIG. 13. Harness adjustment members 87 are wellknown in the art and may be provided in any known form. Forces actingagainst shoulder belts 34 in a collision will tend to pull against base12 and pull seat body 14 forward along tracks 72, 74. Thus, by anchoringharness system 32 to base 12 at anchor plate 88, the force that wouldotherwise oppose movement of seat body 14 in slots 72, 74 insteadgenerates force in the same direction as the movement of seat body 14,allowing energy system 70 to dissipate it.

To enhance the progressive nature of the dampening provided by energyabsorbing system 70, a plurality of crush columns may be provided withvarying lengths. Referring to FIG. 14, three crush columns 89, 90, 91are shown schematically between an alternate impactor 94 and supportplate 84. Crush column 90 has a length L₂ that is larger than thelengths L₁ and L₃ of the end crush columns 89 and 91. It should beappreciated that while crush columns 89 and 91 are shown having lengthsLe; and L₃ that are substantially equal, they may also be providedhaving lengths L₁ and L₃ that are different, further enhancing theprogressive nature of energy system 70. Impactor 94 is provided withthree protrusions 96, 98, and 100, each protrusion having a leading edge102 and opposing trailing surfaces 104 and 106. Each leading edge 102 isaligned substantially at the center of one of the crush columns 89, 90,91. The multiple protrusions of impactor 94 provide an alternativenon-planar impacting shape to the cylindrical impactor discussed aboveand shown in FIGS. 7-13. It will be appreciated by those skilled in theart that many such alternative non-planar shapes may be employed toimpact and crush the crush columns 82, 89, 90 and 91. It is alsocontemplated that energy absorbing system 70 may be modified to includemore or less crush columns 82 and/or protrusions.

When impactor 94 moves toward support plate 84, the leading edge 102 ofprotrusion 98 impacts the end surface of crush column 90 and begins tocompress the column in a longitudinal direction. The resistance providedby crush column 90 progressively increases as the surface area ofcontact between protrusion 98 and column 90 increases. Once impactor 94has moved a distance sufficient to close the gap between crush columns89 and 91 and the leading edges 102 of protrusions 96 and 100, the endcolumns 89, 91 will begin to provide resistance against movement ofimpactor 94 in a similar manner to crush column 90. Only after all threeprotrusions 96, 98 and 100 are in complete contact with crush columns89, 90 and 91 along trailing surfaces 104 and 106, will the resistanceforce provided by the energy absorbing system become constant. If asmall child is restrained within child safety seat 10, protrusions 96and 100 may not fully engage crush columns 89 and 91 before theresistance provided by crush column 90 effectively stops movement ofseat body 14 relative to base 12. Conversely, if a larger child isrestrained within child safety seat 10, all three protrusions 96, 98 and100 may fully engage crush columns 89, 90 and 91, and the columns may becompressed a substantial distance before movement of seat body 14relative to base 12 has been fully stopped.

Latch Release Mechanism

Rigid latch members 21 are provided at the rear of base 12 and securechild safety seat 10 to a vehicle. A single rigid latch member 21 isprovided at each lateral side of base 12. Rigid latch members 21 eachinclude an end clamp 110 that engages lower LATCH anchors provided inthe vehicle and is biased in a closed, secured position. Such end clamps110 are well known in the art and are therefore not described in detailherein. Any end clamp 110 known to those skilled in the art may be used.

Rigid latch members 21 are only useful in vehicles equipped with theappropriate LATCH lower anchors to which the latch members 21 aresecured. Because the size of vehicle seats, the contours of the vehicleseat backs, and the location of the lower anchors in the vehicle vary,it is preferred that latch members 21 are adjustable in length.Adjustment of latch members 21 allows end clamps 110 to move linearlyaway from or toward base 12. Such adjustment of the length of latchmembers 21 may be accomplished by any means known to those skilled inthe art. A latch release assembly is provided to allow for theconvenient release of end clamps 110 by a lever 112 located adjacent tothe front surface 20 of base 12. The latch release assembly is depictedin FIGS. 15-20 and is indicated generally by the numeral 115.

Latch release assembly 115 includes the release lever 112 positionedwithin a recess 118 (FIG. 1) in front surface 20 of base 12. Releaselever 112 is slidably mounted within recess 118, and is biased in anunactuated position, as shown in FIG. 17A. To actuate release lever 112,a user need only reach within recess 118 and pull release lever 112toward front surface 20, in a forward direction, to release end clamps110 from the lower anchors of a vehicle. Release lever 112 is connectedto an actuating member 120 on each side of base 12 in line with theclamp ends 110. Any connecting means known to those skilled in the artmay be used to connect release lever 112 to actuating members 120 andtransfer the movement of release lever 112 to the actuating members 120.In one or more embodiments, release lever 112 may include outwardlyextending arms 121 that are received in a bore 131 in actuating members120 to engage and secure release lever 112 thereto at an attachmentpoint 122. Actuating members 120 rest on base bottom 16 and may berestrained from lateral movement by retaining walls or extensions oneither side thereof.

As shown in FIG. 19, actuating members 120 include opposing sidewalls124 and 126, an end wall 130, and a bore 131 that engages arms 121 ofrelease lever 112 at attachment point 122. A pivoting connection ispreferably provided to allow actuating member 120 to pivot relative torelease lever 112 and arms 121. Actuating members 120 also include aramped end 132 opposite end wall 130. Ramped end 132 includes an upperangled surface 134 and a lower angled surface 136 (FIGS. 17A and 17B),and is configured so that upper angled surface 134 faces up and awayfrom end wall 130 and lower angled surface 136 faces down and toward endwall 130. An opening 138 is provided in at least a portion of the bottomof actuating member 120.

A connecting member 142 (FIG. 17A, 17B, 18) is connected to each endclamp 110 and extends therefrom within base 12. Connecting members 142are generally aligned with actuating members 120 in a longitudinaldirection and include a body 144 having a first foot 146 adjacent to endclamp 110 and a second foot 148 positioned between sidewalls 124 and 126of actuating member 120. First foot 146 and second foot 148 rest on basebottom 16. Connecting member 142 also includes a plurality oflongitudinally spaced teeth 150 extending downward from body 144. Teeth150 have an angled surface 154 and a generally vertical surface 156(FIG. 18) and extend downwardly from body 144 a distance less than thelength of first and second feet 146, 148, so as to leave a gap betweenthe bottom edge of teeth 150 and base bottom 16. Second foot 148 ispositioned between sidewalls 124 and 126 of actuating member 120 andextends through opening 138. The gap between teeth 150 and base bottom16 is large enough to allow connecting member 142 to slide relative toactuating member 120 without contacting ramped end 132. Connectingmember 142 is movable so as to allow the position of end clamp 110 to beadjusted relative to base 12. Thus, if end clamp 110 is moved away frombase 12, connecting member 142 moves an identical distance untilprevented from further movement by second foot 148 contacting ramped end132 of actuating member 120. A similar stop may be provided in theopposite direction, as will be understood by those skilled in the art.For example, a stop may extend between sidewalls 124 and 126 to preventsecond foot 148 from moving farther toward front surface 20.

A ramp 152 (FIG. 20) is secured to base bottom 16 between sidewalls 124,126 of each actuating member 120 proximate ramped end 132. Ramp 152 hasan angled surface 154 that is positioned facing lower angled surface136. Thus, when release lever 112 is actuated (FIG. 17B), the movementis transferred to actuating member 120, which moves longitudinallytoward front surface 20 of base 12. The movement of actuating member 120causes lower angled surface 136 to engage and travel up angled surface154. As actuating member 120 moves up angled surface 154, it pivotsabout an axis through attachment point 122 and engages one of the teeth150 extending from connecting member 142. The longitudinal movement ofactuating member 120 is thus transferred to connecting member 142 andend clamp 110, thereby causing end clamp 110 to open and release thelower anchors within the vehicle.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the latch releaseassembly as described herein allows for adjustment of the position ofend clamp 110 and convenient positioning of the release lever at thefront of child safety seat 10. More specifically, the presence of aplurality of teeth 150 along connecting member 142 ensures that the endclamp 110 remains in engagement with release lever 112 regardless of itsposition relative to base 12.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A child safety seat comprising: a base; aseat body slidably secured to said base and movable for a traveldistance defined by a pre-collision position and a post-collisionposition; a dampening member positioned between said base and said seatbody; and a non-planar impactor secured to said seat body and positionedto engage said dampening member, said non-planar impactor and saiddampening member providing a progressively increasing dampening forceagainst movement of said seat body within first portion of the traveldistance, and providing a constant dampening force against movement ofsaid seat body within a second portion of the travel distance.
 2. Thechild safety seat of claim 1, said base including opposing sidewallseach having at least one slot therethrough.
 3. The child safety seat ofclaim 2, further comprising a cross-bar secured to said seat body andextending between and received in said slots in said sidewalls.
 4. Thechild safety seat of claim 3, wherein said non-planar impactor issecured to said cross-bar.
 5. The child safety seat of claim 1, saidbase including opposing sidewalls each having a front arcuate slot and arear arcuate slot, wherein said seat body includes a front cross-barextending between and received in said front arcuate slots in saidsidewalls and a rear cross-bar extending between and received in saidrear arcuate slots, said non-planar impactor being secured to said rearcross-bar.
 6. The child safety seat of claim 1, wherein said non-planarimpactor is cylindrical in shape.
 7. The child safety seat of claim 1,wherein said dampening member is a honey-comb core column.
 8. The childsafety seat of claim 1, wherein said dampening member includes aplurality of honey-comb core columns.
 9. The child safety seat of claim8, wherein said plurality of honey-comb core columns are of varyinglengths, one end of each column positioned against a support platesecured to said base.
 10. The child safety seat of claim 9, saidimpactor having a plurality of protrusions, each said protrusion beingaligned with one of said honey-comb core columns.
 11. The child safetyseat of claim 10, wherein each of said protrusions includes a leadingedge and trailing surfaces extending in opposing directions from saidleading edge.
 12. The child safety seat of claim 1, wherein said seatbody is restrained from sliding relative to said base when in thepre-collision position by a shear pin passing through said base and saidseat body.
 13. The child safety seat of claim 1, further comprising arelease lever accessible from a front of the seat body; a pair oflaterally spaced clamp members extending rearwardly from said seat bodyand biased in a position to engage an anchor in the vehicle; and arelease assembly connecting said release lever to said clamp members,said release assembly including a pair of connecting members connectedto said clamp members and having a plurality of longitudinally spacedteeth, and a pair of actuating members that engage one of said teeth ofsaid connecting members to cause said clamp members to open.